warped exhaust manifold

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dan5354

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I finally decided to tackle my exhaust leak on my 67 383 Barracuda. Found the manifold to be pretty warped. I tried a few local automotive machine shops and haven't found one that'll surface it. I was wondering if there's anyone out there that knows of a shop in Chicagoland that can do it. Or is there another fix such as the RemFlex gaskets? Has anyone tried them?
 
As a giggle, Have you attempted a double gasket? What have you used thus far for the gaskets?
 
On a lark, you might try a local tech/vocational school and see what the machine shop instructor has to say... we used to do manifolds and flywheels all the time (waaay back in high school) on the ol' blanchard grinder...
 
Well, I'm not near Chi-town, but I can tell ya my experience. - My 383 had never been apart before. I wanted it factory on the reassembly. I found a machine shop through a friend that had a giant belt sander, like 18" wide and 3' long. He held the HP manifolds in his hands, just a quick run across for a few seconds. I bought all new hardware - studs, sleeve nuts, etc. Gave them a thin coat of copper spray, checked the nuts after a few heat cycles. No leaks, no worries.
 
Demonic said:
Well, I'm not near Chi-town, but I can tell ya my experience. - My 383 had never been apart before. I wanted it factory on the reassembly. I found a machine shop through a friend that had a giant belt sander, like 18" wide and 3' long. He held the HP manifolds in his hands, just a quick run across for a few seconds. I bought all new hardware - studs, sleeve nuts, etc. Gave them a thin coat of copper spray, checked the nuts after a few heat cycles. No leaks, no worries.
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking for an exhaust manifold. A belt sander might get it pretty close. Even a smaller one to work on the end ports and center separately. Check often with a straight edge and a flat surface. Or buy a nice long belt, cut it and tape it to a good flat bench. Hell, I've heard of guys home surfacing cylinder heads like that.
 
Remflex gaskets are the best, hands down. If you try them you will never buy anything else. I've tried most brands and material, none worked as good . Although I admit to never trying them with manifolds
 
Thanks for all the replies. First time I've had the manifold off. It had a basic thin metal/composite gasket on it. I've heard that they didn't use gaskets from the factory. I think I'll see what some of those recommended shops say in the morning. If it's not too expensive ....
Otherwise finding a belt sander might be the way to go, or I was thinking the belt mounted to something and dragging it back and forth might be a good idea. That was an idea from one the machine shops I talked to too.
RemFlex says that their gaskets are good for up to a sixteenth, so maybe before going to a bunch of trouble maybe that could be worth trying first. Especially after hearing your review and another like.
 
Ouch! The youngins' would be like Conan spinning that mill around.
 
Turned out to be no big deal. I got some belt sander belts from Harbor freight, screwed em to my bench, and dragged the manifold back and forth. It didn't take near as long as I would have thought and it is easy to keep flat doing it by hand.
 
Top of machined top table saw or similar also works, as does plate glass.
You can go to finer grits on the plate to get the final finish you want.
Just keep checking that the edges aren't getting cut down faster than the center.
 
My mechanic neighbor mentioned a thicker gasket that would crush down unevenly so the manifold wouldn't crack and still seal - that was all discussion before finding out how easy it was to just sand flat.
 
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